A Meeting Between Friends

By Charlotte Wigram Evans / December 5, 2017;

His Holiness the Dalai Lama and Barack Obama met for the sixth time, reaffirming vows of friendship and aspirations for world peace

“You are young, you can do a lot,” were but a few of the poignant words spoken by His Holiness the Dalai lama to former United States president Barack Obama in Delhi during their most recent meeting on Friday, December 2.

Obama was on a fleeting five-day world tour, having flown in from Beijing the previous evening. The two Nobel Peace Prize laureates have met many times before — four when Obama was in presidential office — and His Holiness described them as “two old trusted friends.”

During the 45-minute interaction the two men discussed compassion and altruism at length, and the importance of promoting peace in a world torn by strife and violence. His Holiness said: “We should fulfil our aspiration for world peace. Maybe my generation will not see the results, but your generation will definitely see the results.”

Obama has repeatedly emphasised his support for the Central Tibetan Administration’s Middle Way policy, advocating the continuation of China’s political rule while preserving Tibet’s unique religious, cultural and linguistic traditions, as well as their human rights.

It is a policy backed by His Holiness, who has long insisted that he is not the separatist the Chinese accuse him of being. The spiritual leader officially retired from his political role as the leader of the exiled Tibetan government in 2011, but remains the head of Tibetan Buddhists.

Responding to the press at Gaggal airport on his way home to Dharamshala, His Holiness stated that the meeting “was very good… I mentioned to him that now the time has come for us to promote the sense of oneness among seven billion human beings. It is sad to see there are so much differences among people.”

Obama subsequently spoke at a leadership conference in New Delhi and met Prime Minister Narendra Modi, before holding a Town Hall meeting for young people, hosted by his foundation. The Obama Foundation’s mission is to inspire and empower people to change their world; they are holding a series of Town Hall conversations about active citizenship and how the Foundation can support the inspiring work so many emerging leaders.